Samurai Usagi

Samurai Sep 9, 2018

7

Story- Samurai Usagi is about a young samurai who had to become a one to follow his father and brothers path. He wishes to live an honorable life and become a great samurai so he won't have to commit seppeku like both the afformentioned family members have before him. Although he is only 15, he is recently married to the sister of his superior (she's also 15). He's thinking about giving up, but once he starts to learn about his wife he begins to realize that he knows nothing about her, and she knows nothing about him. Deciding that he doesn't want to be a stranger to his own wife, he decides to make a great dojo to win her affection and respect. Of what I've read, the story is pretty good. Though it's translation isn't the best (I've read the entire thing now and I can say this does change rather quickly and it becomes very easily readable and well translated) and it can be hard to follow. Honestly, the rating of this manga would probably be higher if it weren't for the translation. I would have given up reading the manga due to the bad translation, but the story intrigued me enough to make me keep going. Art- In terms of art, the style is very simplistic and yet the characters all look unique and can be distinguished from one another. Even if you didn't know the characters names, it'd be easy enough to follow who they are and what their personality is by just seeing them. The only problem with the art is that in some manga (this being one of them) you need to read the text to fully understand what's being done. So the bad translation (again, this changes after like 13 chapters and becomes very readable) makes it a bit harder to understand what's happening sometimes. Again, if the translation was even a little bit better it'd be so much easier to follow everything and enjoy the story (it does and it did). Characters- The characters are all great and rich in their own story. I think what binds these characters together is the freedom that the dojo offers. Each person in the dojo is someone who wishes to live their own life and get away from the rules of a world that their status puts them in. Udagawa Gosuke being a samurai due to blood and having to live honorably for the sake of his wife, as a dojo master he fully understood that he didn't want people to be bound by rules that would limit their own freedom to be themselves. We know everyone's motives and feelings, and get a backstory of each characters status and backstory. This offers us a window into the reason why each person joined the dojo and what rules they wish to be unbound from. The main character Gosuke (the samurai) is quite small and is seen as weak by everyone. Even the cover of the story, and the cover pages of the chapters give off the image that he's a weak kid, yet he's quite muscular and has great technique from his hard work training. When we see his actions, he shows his strength. Gosuke shows a strong character, and is very respectful to everyone regardless of rank, unless they harm his wife or an innocent person. As for his wife Shino. She was wed to Gosuke by her brother's request. She's a strange person but is really caring. She loves rabbits and shows a child like fascination for them. She makes rabbit masks all day to try and bring money into the household. She's a nice person. There's other characters besides these two, and they all show their own personality and quirks, but the story centers around these two somewhat. As the creator said, they wished to create a shounen manga about a married couple.. and honestly they accomplished that. Frankly, even the "villians" are given depth, and ironically seem very much less villanious than a lot of other samurai outside of the udagawa dojo. Final notes- If you're okay with a not so good translation (that will not be a problem after about 13 chapters I believe), but a great  story, I'd reccommend you read it. I really like this story, and I like how it shows a lot of things about Samurai that other manga and anime never do. Like showing what life can be like for a young samurai, such as thoughts about seppeku (suicide); without making it over dramatic (showing it as just an aspect of life).